I hear the question quite often - What is dramaturgy? So I thought I would give an example of dramaturgy by showing rather than telling. Partly because people are always on at writers to 'show, don't tell', even though a bit of telling worked alright for Shakespeare, I am determined to prove a villain and all that.

I will try and do it as simply and clearly as I can. I will also confine myself to dramaturgy in this post, I write about the role of the dramaturg in another post. We'll start off with some sofa dramaturgy and then I'll invent a problematic story pitch that we can critique.

Now, I am a writer, not a dramaturg, but that doesn't mean I don't engage in dramaturgy on a script all the time. And I think there's lots to learn as a writer from how dramaturgs go about looking at a piece of writing.

In this post:

• Origins of the word Dramaturgy
• The Story Instinct
• An incomplete idea
• Analysing the pitch
• The notes process
• Dramaturgy in Sociology
• Resources

Origins of the word Dramaturgy

So what is dramaturgy? It is the act of manipulation of a story in order to improve it. As Simon Stephens says, the word playwright doesn't come from write, it comes from wright. Like a Wheelwright. A maker, a craftsperson. You are manipulating the stuff of drama.

This is from the introduction in The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, written by Magda Romanska. It's really worth getting.

According to Aristotle, the root of the word drama comes from the verb which meant "action". The second part of the word, "tourgós......was derived from the Greek word ergon which meant “working together."

And so originally dramaturgos just meant someone who was able to arrange various dramatic actions in a meaningful order.

The original Greek compound word, dramaturgos, meant simply a play maker, play composer, that is, a playwright.

The working of action. Just the same way that metallurgy is the working of metal. Crafting the stuff of drama.

The Story Instinct

(Spoiler alert - in the next section, I talk a little about some plot points in Rings of Power.)

Let's do some sofa dramaturgy.

We can all watch a film or read a book and notice gaps in the logic of the story. We're all hardwired with the story instinct.

For example. Let's say you've watched Rings of Power (spoilers coming - jump to the next section if you'd rather not read them "An incomplete idea" ).

You turn to your friend and you say - why do the harfoots (the ur-hobbits) sing a song when they're walking about not leaving people behind - and then they leave people behind? Real dog eat dog, you're injured, you're on your own guys.

Or maybe you're mildly surprised that Galadriel jumps off a ship in the middle of the ocean and meets, by chance, the one person she was looking for. Or maybe you are annoyed that you don't know who the big wizard is for the whole first season, even after they try and explain it at the very end with a niche reference to something someone says on the Mines of Moria in an entirely different film. Or that someone middleearthsplains to the elven master smith that he can put different metals together. And so on.

Someone must have been in the writing room and pointed these things out?

An incomplete idea

So I will invent an idea here, it will be incomplete, and I will discuss it with an imaginary someone who is pointing out the holes in it.

The Flannan Isles, Scotland, the year 1900. When a supply ship lands on the island, they find that the three lighthouse keepers have disappeared. There is no sign of them, although food is still on the table, uneaten, and one chair is overturned in the middle of a room. There are no other signs of a fight. And they couldn't have left the island, no other ships call there.

Sixteen years later, during the Great War, on the eve of the Battle of the Somme, two men meet. One of the men from the supply boat recognises one of the missing lighthouse keepers.

After the war. They meet again, this time the lighthouse keeper reveals everything that happened.

Let's look at what's wrong with this. What do you think? Let us count the ways. Six of them, anyway.

Analysing the pitch

So someone who is giving you a view on your story might say things like...

The title

First of all, you haven't included a title.

Hmm... a working title would probably be wise.. How about something like... 'Flannan Island Mystery'? No, too on the nose. I need to go and think about it. Here's a link to Dramaturg Katherine Mendelsohn talking about the importance of titles.

Whose story is it?

Who is the main character? What is the central conflict between them? And it would be good to give all the characters names. Don't call them MAN2.

Why this story now?

They might well say - why this story now? This is an important question to consider because you will be continually asked this. And 'because I like it' doesn't seem to satisfy people. Even though this has a period setting, does it say anything about where we are now? Or the things we are dealing with in the world now? Are there no female characters in this story?

What's at stake? Why does it matter?

The structure is incomplete

You might notice that the pitch opens more questions than it answers. There are a couple of events related to backstory, but no clue of how the central mystery might be unravelled. There's no clear Acts - in short, if this is actually the play - starting with two people in a room... I've just described the backstory and none of the play itself. Which brings me onto...

Lack of present action

At the moment, the story happens after the most dramatic events. So the two characters will be taking about them, looking back at them. Shouldn't the story take place at the most dramatic time, and in the moment? In short, if what the characters are talking about in the past is more interesting than the present, shouldn't the play be set at the more interesting point in time?

What's it about?

Like... it's about... three people go missing/

No... what's it about.

Well two guys meet and they have this secret/

No. What's... the... theme?

Like...

Justice... Injustice...

Yes... those.

Pause.

Maybe you should go and think about it a bit more.

The notes process

I could carry on ad nauseam but will stop there. These are an example of notes. Working up a script, you will get notes for every draft. Even if you are alone in a hot air balloon, someone will find a way to get notes to you.

This is why learning about dramaturgy is so useful for writers. You can anticipate these questions as you write, as you craft it. And you can do it at the early stage so you are less attached to it - you haven't spent weeks writing a full draft. You can work on the miniature version.

You can also have an idea of different story shapes as you work. You might realise that the story climax comes too soon so the rest of the story is an anti-climax. You might realise that you thought the story was about one thing but it's actually about this.

It allows you to write in both directions - from the inside out - you're in the moment, in the feeling. From the outside in, you can step back and analyse it. I like to think of them like Daniel Kahneman's System 1 and System 2.

Here's an additional extra...

Dramaturgy in Sociology

Dramaturgy is also a theory in the field of Sociology, which views everyday social interactions as a form of performance.

It was developed by Erving Goffman in his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. He suggests that people continually manage how others perceive them.

Like the comedian Chris Rock said, when you meet someone, you don't actually meet them. You meet their representative.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts

Resources

I hope this has been useful. As a next step, I would recommend reading the interview with Katherine Mendelsohn - Getting to the centre of the play, to see how an expert dramaturg interrogates an idea.

For information - as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support the site at no extra cost to you.

The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy - Edited by Magda Romanska. A good reference book to have.

Poetics by Artistotle - writings by the person many consider to be the first dramaturg. He looks at the elements of plot, character... Tragedy! Comedy!...and much more.